Archive for March, 2009
SWF 2009, 18-24 May
[stickie post]
The program for the Sydney Writers’ Festival came out on Saturday. This year’s opening guest speaker is Chimamanda Ngozi Aidiche, and later, Germaine Greer pops in for an hour’s lecture on ‘The Australian Way: The Influence of Australia and Australians on British Politics and Politicians’.
I’ll be looking to get in a few sessions this year if I see any I’m interested in, but changes in the prog will and do occur. I like the way they’ve initiated a program strand on the website, by topic rather than scrolling through hundreds of events.
As the festival runs during a workweek, I’d have to take time off. Seems the majority of attendees are seniors and university students. Last year I attended and met Jeanette Winterson (ooo!) (see this picture – JW was Fit!) so it was infinitely worth it.
Addendum: Book cover designers – your work is important too. http://www.swf.org.au/tv-commercial-2008/
Piggy post
Kingsford the Tiny. He’ll grow but for the moment he’s a pocket pig.
[Thanks to Anni for the link]
In Aust, miniature pigs can be gotten from www.ozminipigs.com
While we’re here, take a look at a couple of gorgeous baby pot-bellies from Pig-o-my-heart.
26.jpg "http://www.potbellypigofmyheart.com")
End/start of a rainbow (pt 2)
This guy snapped it before me (my view was rather different). No pot o’ gold but he did win on a lottery ticket.
[from Digg.]
And now for something completely different
Really really different. Today, I’m plugging big, hairy sozzled…gorillas. Male gorillas in Rwanda made famous by Dian Fossey and the movie about them. There are fewer than 700 left.
Look at the pics and tell me they don’t deserve to be noticed 
Courtesy of the Daily Mail (UK) Online and wildlife photog, Andy Rouse.
Aww, they’re beautiful even when hungover. Thanks, Andy Rouse. You can see more pics on Andy’s blog.
No internets? No TV? What’s that in your hand?
Well, I’ve spent the last few nights dismayed at the graphics display on my laptop that went afuzzy and awry whenever Firefox came on. Wouldn’t you know it, I found the fix (fingers crossed) after I submitted a help request to the manufacturer.
I kept myself entertained in the meantime by desperately reading The Chronicles of Chaos by John C Wright. The first book was a freebie e-book from Tor and it got me hooked! Annoyed I was that the next two weren’t available in electronic format, and I couldn’t find the second book in many stores. But I did get it eventually and I’ve finished the trilogy. It helped that our subscription TV satellite dish is under repair so plenty of quiet.
The story is wonderfully adventurous and smart and phantastic, and it’s a YA genre. It has mystery, girl smarts, explosions and growing pains, a grand mix of science, philosophy, theology, magicks and other fields of learning I could never understand. At its heart, it is about five ‘orphans’ trying to escape from a special boarding school. They learn that they are child hostages from Chaos, held captive by pagan gods to stave off a war between Chaos and Cosmos. In learning who they are, they try to return home, but politics, oaths and powers (theirs and the gods) move to ensnare, save and kill them.
A highly entertaining read.
John C Wright’s books are pulished by Tor-Forge/Macmilan
Lesbian mags straight to your browser
Looking for some serious lesbian journalism? Want lots of pretty pages and women to perve at? Need a dose of lesbiantainment? Don’t want to pay for a brown envelope in the mail every month? Hate shipping fees?
Some of the best lesbian news magazines today are available to you online. You don’t need special software or any wait time. Some are available for modest subscription fees, others are free to view/download anytime. Digital editions are all the rage.
CURVE (US) is having a free online view trial for 2 weeks. If you like it, you can subscribe to the web version of the mag and/or in addition to the print version.
LOTL (Aust.) aka Lesbians On The Loose, has been fully online for over a year. A staple of the Sydney lesbian scene, it has expanded to other state capitals and is now LOTL International. Free to Sydneysiders. Subscription online.
BOUND (Aust.) glam sister to LOTL. Subscription access.
CHERRIE (Aust.) a feminist, bi and queer magazine that is really pro-lesbian, started rolling online and in print from day one.
G3 (UK) very hip (does anyone say “hip” anymore?). Clever media embedded. Free issues online and in PDF.
On Our Backs (US) in print, with teasers online.
The chockful AfterEllen.com. You can never have enough.
L.mag (Germany) started in 2010.
Autostraddle (US) girl-on-girl culture, aimed at the younger or web-addicted lesbian.
Honourable mentions:
DIVA (UK) does not have an online edition yet but soooon should, I hope.
GLU (Netherlands/US) Redefining lesbianism. Print only.
Xtra (Canada) and Fridae (Asia). Oh, and SLIT (Aust., print only) because it is outrageous.
I know there are heaps more sites with LGBT content but I’m interested in lesbian periodicals. If you know of others I should add to the list, send ‘em along.
Special sale at Spinifex Press
Spinifex Press is making a special offer .
Until 31 March 2009, you can purchase any titles listed on the Spinifex Press website or listed in their catalogue at 60% discount (excluding freight).
To be a part of this special offer please do the following:
* Go to the website and choose which titles you wish to purchase.
* Email to women@spinifexpress.com.au the titles you wish to purchase and the quantity.
* Include your telephone number and delivery address in the email.
* You will be informed of the freight charge and an invoice emailed to you.
* You will then need to pay by credit card or cheque. When payment is received books will be sent to you.
This is your chance to buy some groundbreaking books at unbeatable prices. All stock needs to be ordered before the end of March. Please pass this on to anyone else whom you think might be interested – friends, schools, libraries, organisations.
Best wishes,
Susan Hawthorne, Publisher
Spinifex Press is an award-winning independent press publishing innovative and controversial books across a wide variety of subject areas for the feminist and lesbian markets.
Lesbian summer camp, oh my!
Thanks to whoever sent me this. Li’l retreat for queer women in and near Singapore.
Marriage is pwnship
Let’s not forget how the idea of ‘marriage’ came about. It embeds the concept of ownership and occupancy into a exclusive relationship sanctioned by law and social acceptance. In the modern old days, this ownership was deemed important for man to secure his lineage by binding female to tend to his seed and progeny. Female, on the other hand, was looking for a mate to ensure the survival of her children. These two goals are not necessarily mutual but by combining, they offered symbiosis.
In the modern dark age, this field of exclusivity narrowed even further and heavier penalties enforced the view to what we see as ‘normal’ today. 1 Man, 1 woman, children. Society has created rules that punish breaches of this family concept and reward those who follow it. Those who would form variations of family groups, now find themselves up against a steel web of bureaucracy, state approved discrimination and hostile neighbours.
I am, of course, referrring to same-sex partnerships and households, but I would also include de facto relationships. Not everyone wants to get married and not every person wants to have children. I’m prompted to write this post by two things, the vid below and a recent look at my taxes that confirmed, to me, that married couples (st8 or not) get more TAX and GOVT BENEFITS than non married couples or singletons.
For many years now, Australia has recognised de facto relationships with childern as on par with marriage although only recently were laws passed to include such benefits for same sex couples. Hooray for all that because the legislation also started unravelling the steel web of bureaucracy that justified discrimination in private and public institutions. Big step forward, no doubt about that. But the view that nuclear families must still be protected above others is still the driving force behind government policy. I’m annoyed that I have to pay for family support that I will never use. However, compared with the 70+ countries that still criminalise homosexual behaviour, 7 with death penalties, I shan’t complain too much.
Soapie slick lesbians
Dissed-claimer: I do not watch soap operas.
The longest running half-hour daily soaps on Australian telly are Neighbours and Home & Away. If you ask me, they’re awful but as they’ve been on air for YEARS, I guess my vote doesn’t count.
Home & Away are plopping in a lesbian lurve story this season, with dating scenes and kissing and I hope intimations of a fuckfest or two. Because we do have sex, you know. Kids – yes, you, the one who’s been experimenting since secondary school – should continue watching the series (tell your mums I said so) or play your Xbox or whatever you do at 7pm when no one else is looking.
Esther Anderson and Kate Bell play Charlie and Joey, one a policewoman, the other a deckie on a trawler. Warm feelings below the belt and under the bra develop between these cuties.
Lesbian storylines aren’t new but they always fizzle out once the ratings shoot up; usually one half decides to go st8 and has a baby with a man, or one partner will die in the course of duty.
If you want to see a good lesbian storyline in a drama, check out Los Hombres de Paco, a Spanish TV drama with even hotter lesbians!
And if you can’t get enough of lesbians on screen, go to AfterEllen.com for more good looking lesbians than you can handle.
How many times can I say lesbian in a single post, eh?
